Captain Lee Joon-seok is facing a total of five charges, the most
serious being negligence of duty and violation of maritime law.

On Friday, investigators revealed that the captain of the vessel
was not at the helm at the time of the incident, and had left his
third officer in command. Local authorities issued arrest
warrants for Lee, the officer left in charge, and one other crew
member, for not providing proper assistance to the passengers
during the accident.

On Saturday, search and rescue divers were able to enter the
capsized ferry, where they found three more dead bodies, bringing
the death total to 32. Meanwhile, 264 individuals still remain
unaccounted for.

The ferry capsized while on its way from Incheon, in the
northwest, to the southern resort island of Jeju. It was carrying
over 400 people. Rescuers have so far managed to save 179
individuals.

The vice principal of Danwon High School, who was charged with
the care of hundreds of high school students on the ferry trip,
has committed suicide. Kang Min-gyu was found hanging from a tree
on the island of Jindo, where the parents of the children lost in
the ferry accident are staying. Kang was rescued from the ferry
before it sank and is believed to have taken his own life out of
guilt.

Rescuers are continuing the search for 268 people who remain
unaccounted for, but progress is being hampered by poor weather
conditions. Over 500 divers have been deployed to search for
passengers with the slim hope that they could have survived in
air pockets underwater.

The cause of the accident still remains unknown, although
investigators suspect that the vessel could have struck a rock or
made a sharp turn, causing it to overturn.

Captain Lee Joon-seok appeared on South Korean television on
Thursday to deliver a message to the families devastated by the
disaster.

"I am really sorry and deeply ashamed. I don't know what to
say," he said.

The captain has been the target of public anger following the
accident. The South Korean government has also been criticized
for its handling of the incident. A spokesperson for the
aggrieved families spoke out against the authorities in a
television broadcast on Friday morning, accusing the government
of lying to them.

"The government lied yesterday," he said. "Is this
the reality of South Korea? We plead once more, please save our
children.”

The spokesperson alleged that the South Korean government has
lied about the size of the rescue effort, claiming that it is
actually much smaller.

Amateur footage of the moment when the ship
began to capsize has been posted online. It shows how the
passengers were told to stay put on the ship, even when it
started to tilt. Some critics have argued that if an order to
evacuate had been issued earlier, more people could have been
saved.